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Credit: Anjali KishoreFormer Iowa assistant coach Tristan Spurlock will serve on Fran McCaffery’s Penn men’s basketball staff, sources close to the matter told The Daily Pennsylvanian.
Spurlock spent two seasons with the Hawkeyes as the director of player development. He is the first assistant attached to Penn’s staff since McCaffery was announced as the program’s new head coach last Thursday.
Spurlock also acted as one of the Hawkeyes’ lead recruiters during his assistant tenure. That included his successful recruitment of four-star recruit Joshua Lewis, the 37th-ranked player in the Class of 2025. Lewis later decommitted from Iowa after McCaffery was dismissed as head coach in March.
Before joining Iowa’s staff, Spurlock played professionally overseas for nine years. In college, Spurlock was a key rotation player at the University of Central Florida, averaging 11.4 points per game and 32.8 minutes per game for the Golden Knights as a junior in 2012-13.
Spurlock’s addition further bolsters a staff that brings significant high-major experience to the Ivy League. McCaffery arrives at Penn after 15 years in Iowa City, where he became the winningest coach in program history with 297 victories. McCaffery’s 12 career NCAA tournament appearances are the most by any men’s basketball coach in Ivy League history at the time of their hiring.
Struggles on the recruiting trail were one of the most frequent points of criticism against former Penn head coach Steve Donahue, who was fired on March 10. The Quakers’ original recruiting Class of 2026 consisted of just two players — junior guard Cam Thrower and junior forward Christian Ubochi, who played a combined nine minutes this season due in part to an injury to Thrower. Penn has also struggled to retain its top talent, with star freshman Tyler Perkins transferring to Villanova last spring and sophomore guard Sam Brown currently in the transfer portal.
With Spurlock joining McCaffery in Philadelphia, Penn will hope to rectify those issues and restore the program to its previous success. McCaffery’s other assistants are expected to be announced in the coming weeks.
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